"The 2013 elections in Kenya and Zimbabwe took place in the context of both optimism and fear. Held under new constitutional dispensations that promised democratic progress, these were ‘first-generation’ elections that followed the gruesome electoral-related violence of 2007 and 2008 in Kenya and Zimbabwe respectively. Those earlier violent polls infused renewed scepticism about elections as a peaceful mechanism for choosing governments. In a diametric departure from the previous electoral process, the 2013
elections were conspicuously peaceful in both countries, albeit with a nonconsensual outcome. This policy brief highlights several lessons drawn from
the experiences of these elections, with policy insights for the rest of Africa
and beyond."